NYC ordering noise meters at construction sites to soothe ears

It’s music to their ears.

City regulators are making a bid to address the bane of New Yorkers’ existence: noise!

The city Department of Environmental Protection will require major construction projects that operate “after hours” to install noise meters in an effort to bring down the racket to reasonable levels.

The new rule would cover construction sites of at least 200,000 square feet that border residential areas.

The city received more than 700,000 311 noise complaints of all kinds last year, top of any category of gripe in the Big Apple.

The DEP said it received more than 20,000 complaints just for “after hours” construction noise in 2023, such as jack-hammering.

“This rule would require the party responsible for a construction site to perform noise monitoring,” the DEP said of the proposed amendment to monitor the decibel levels.

“This data would inform whether additional mitigation strategies are needed, or whether the hours that the work is permitted should be reduced or changed. Monitoring would also enable DEP to better advise the responsible party about what needs to be done to stay within prescribed noise levels.”

Emergency construction projects are exempt as are residential building projects deemed 100% “affordable,” the DEP said.

The noise monitoring rule was soothing to the ears of one Brooklyn lawmaker who complained about rattling racket from construction projects in his district, including the building of a new borough jail.

“This is a great idea! This is a brilliant proposal from DEP,” said Councilman Lincoln Restler, whose construction hotspot 33rd District includes Downtown Brooklyn, Greenpoint, Williamsburg, Brooklyn Heights, DUMBO, Boerum Hill, Vinegar Hill, Bedford-Stuyvesant and the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

“The responsibility should be on the developer to monitor noise levels and ensure they are not causing extreme disturbances for neighbors,” he said.

Cracking down on noise is part of the DEP’s 2025 long-range vision plan, a spokesman said, adding that no specific set of complaints prompted it.

If the data shows elevated noise levels at certain times of day or night, the DEP will dispatch inspectors to construction sites to get responsible contractors to address it, the agency rep added.

DEP also is working to develop new technology to better monitor and enforce the noise code to respect residents’ ear drums.

Some of the worst ear-piercing noise comes from construction sites. Jackhammer/power saws generate 110 decibels of noise, just below a jet takeoff at 130 decibels.